Yesterday, physical games sales data for the UK revealed the best-selling titles of 2019. To nobody's surprise, FIFA 20 took out the number one spot, with a total of 1.5 million sales. Nintendo also had a reasonably good year in this part of the world, with both Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Pokémon Sword (not including PokémonShield sales) making the cut.

Despite a strong year for Nintendo titles, no first-party games from the Japanese company have performed well-enough sales-wise to earn a spot in the UK's top 10 best-selling physical games of the past decade. As you might have already noticed at this point, the game that did take out first was Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto V, followed by Activision's Call of Duty: Black Ops and in third place was Minecraft, which has at least been released on multiple Nintendo platforms.

The rest of the list is comprised of two other COD games and EA's FIFA series takes up five spots on the chart. That's FIFA 14 in fifth, FIFA 13 in sixth, FIFA 15 in seventh, FIFA 11 in ninth and FIFA 12 in tenth place. Unfortunately, sales figures were not provided by the GfK.

1.

Grand Theft Auto V

2.

Call of Duty: Black Ops

3.

Minecraft

4.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

5.

Fifa 14

6.

Fifa 13

7.

Fifa 15

8.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II

9.

Fifa 11

10.

Fifa 12

As already noted here, FIFA 20 was the best-selling video game in 2019 within the UK. Clearly there are no signs of its popularity slowing down anytime soon, even after all the uproar last year about microtransactions and loot boxes.

Are you at all surprised by this list? Did you expect any Nintendo exclusives to make the cut? Share your thoughts below.

When he’s not paying off a loan to Tom Nook, Liam likes to report on the latest Nintendo news and admire his library of video games. His favourite Nintendo character used to be a guitar-playing dog, but nowadays he prefers to hang out with Judd the cat.

Fifa puzzles me. Bought them all from '12 to '18 but cant say the incremental changes they make are actually improvements. Only one I play now is Fifa 15 which has the best balance of arcade/simulation for me. 18 seemed to have players plodding along at a snail's pace (in mud) and long/finesse shots seemed to be impossible.

So... two franchises account for eight of the games in the top ten. That is absolutely staggering. No wonder EA and Activision keep pumping out a FIFA and COD every single year. I wonder when this pattern will start to break down? Although it is noticeable that FIFA 15 is the most recent FIFA entry in the list.

That just summarises us gamers in the UK. I personally haven’t played FIFA since the Megadrive when it was in the Iso View Point. But that never played as well as Kick Off 2, or Sensible Soccer (IMO). ISS played so much better than FIFA on the N64. EAs answer to beating the competition was to buy exclusivity to FIFA rather than make a better Football Game

@fluggy Unfortunately a huge part of buying a new FIFA is the roster of players for a lot of people. They HAVE to have the current, relevant roster, and don't care if the gameplay is barely or at all improved.

Of course it's one of those ''to each their own'' things, though. I haven't played a FIFA game in years myself but I have a few co-workers who play only that and/or CoD, too. (And no I'm not from the UK.)

People can talk power, framerates, resolution, raytracing and teraflops until the cows come home. The vast majority of people who buy consoles don’t give a toss and only care about their sports/CoD or GTA.

My nephew took a little walk with me there on my way home from work, we were chatting about games & what systems I had and used to play back in the day... he has a PS4, his brother a Switch, myself & my son both have Switch. He was saying that on his Friends list, or whatever it is on PlayStation, there’s usually about 3 or 4 playing Fortnite... & every other active player is on FIFA. All the guys I worked with were the same, their PlayStations were basically FIFA machines.

Quite sad that only 2 games are neither COD nor Fifa. @MrJed GTA 5 is a very large game so I don’t see that happening (unless they remove the online portion and make it single-player only like Doom did).

GTA V still being at the top of sales charts huh, no wonder why Rockstar barely puts an effort nowadays. Their only new game this gen was RDR2 and that technically isn't so "new" being just a sequel.

And it's even more baffling they haven't released anything other than L.A. Noire on Switch, porting San Andreas would be easy money for them and it's not like it hasn't been remastered already, same with the likes of Manhunt, Bully, other GTA's that have been on both PS4 and Xbox for years

It's a culture in decline, I'm afraid. This list reads like the contents of the average twelve year-old's dusty game shelf comprised of mixed bargain bin EA sports games, the obligatory Calladoody, and bad early 2010's comedy films on Blu-Ray. Plastic bowl of two day old macaroni and cheese on top of a crusty magazine on a nightstand nearby, a few questionable stains on the beige carpeting between the television and the 'gaming chair', sticky Red Bull can in the cupholder.

@Majora101 I love it when gamers trash other gamers for their tastes. It's like listening to martin scorsese talk about how marvel movies arent real films. I get it. You don't like FIFA and you don't like cod. You don't need to have a superiority complex about it.

@sixrings Hardly a "superiority complex"; not everyone who disagrees with you is a stuck-up (and I secretly do enjoy Call Of Duty here and there, admittedly). As with Scorcese films versus Marvel films, some things in life are objectively bad or poorly-made, others are objectively good and well-crafted — it isn't unreasonable nor symptomatic of a "complex" to find value in one thing over another. It's also hardly a rude observation to point out that a life spent in the basement whittling away the hours with the latest copy of FIFA until the next yearly edition rolls its way off the conveyor belt is no life at all. I'd add that the negative industry impact incurred as a result of supporting a company like Electronic Arts in such devoted fashion is motivating enough for one to be justified in avoiding FIFA as often as possible. It's a shame companies like these exist, and it's a shame so many people (not just those in the United Kingdom) devote so much time and money to their products. There is much more to the video game industry and life in general than the contents of this list.

@Majora101 if FIFA and cod were objectively bad they would routinely get mediocre scores. Rather then constantly get 8s or higher. Unless you are going to tell me there is a big conspiracy that big publishers buy ratings then there goes your objectivity argument. The way you belittled the games as something from an average twelve year old dusty shelf and suggest it points to a culture in decline is why you are stuck up... it has nothing to do with you disagreeing with me.

@sixrings Right, because every game that is not released to a particularly mediocre response is an objectively good video game. There is no logic to what you are insinuating. Pokemon Sword and Shield are the highest selling Pokemon titles in series history, a global franchise spanning more than twenty years. They feature scores such as 9.3/10, 9/10, and 38/40 from professional critics including IGN, GameSpot, and Famitsu, yet these are clearly far from near-perfect games, as a Google search, social media browse, or first-hand play-through demonstrates.

Review scores are not an exacting, objective measure of the value of a title, they are a person or publication's personal first-hand opinion at best. In the case of the EA sports titles, it's hardly an unreasonable argument to posit that a game essentially comprised of 99.2% of the exact same content featured in another title released just a year earlier with just enough new one-dimensional content to justify slapping a new title on it isn't exactly an objectively good, considered or well-crafted product capable of offering a memorable or particularly distinct experience from the previous entry. The fact games like FIFA regularly score as high as 8/10 is more demonstrative of how unfortunately willing many undemanding people are to buy the same product repeatedly to tide them over until the next dopamine rush than it is of any particularly high quality inherent to the product. The fact you aren't still playing FIFA '97 on your PlayStation 1 to this day while others are still playing objectively good (real) games from the same time period and earlier is evidence enough that these products are neither memorable nor noteworthy in any way; they are a shallow experience produced specifically to tide you over until the next product. Calling a spade a spade by saying these titles are objectively bad as video games is not an act of arrogance or evidence of a "complex", it's a statement of fact. I don't say this to be rude, either, I've bought my fair share of EA sports titles too. We all eat at McDonald's from time to time.

Eh, I prefer PES for my yearly annihilation of Rangers. Black Ops is one of the better COD games, GTA V has a great single player mode but could never get into the online and Minecraft is great fun too. I don't think there's any point getting annoyed over this, it's just proof that casual games sell the most which is blindingly obvious to anyone with half a brain. Of course number 1 wasn't Nier Automata or Yakuza 0, both two of the greatest games of the decade but rather niche. Games aimed at the masses sell well, just like movies, just like music.

I love video games and I love FIFA - not ashamed at all. I’ll happily whack a few goals in between sessions of other games.

I’ll also pay £30 and you can always pay £30 on release day if you keep an eye out a year for updated kits rosters and leagues if I want. I’ll say that last few years I skipped a year but was happy to buy 20 as it had Salford in it for first time and wanted to manager career as them

@Majora101 well you shouldn't have thrown in comparisons to 12 year olds insinuating they don't know any better and also a cultural decline insinuating you're above others if you didn't want to come off as arrogant. Great you eat at McDonald's too. Congrats.

"The fact games like FIFA regularly score as high as 8/10 is more demonstrative of how unfortunately willing many undemanding people are to buy the same product repeatedly to tide them over until the next dopamine rush than it is of any particularly high quality inherent to the product." This comment also sounds like you feel your taste in gaming is superior to professional websites as well as gamers who apparently don't have good taste.

The fact that Pokemon scores well and sells well does mean that most people think the games are worth their price. Similarly to FIFA and cod. If the games weren't received well they wouldn't sell well.

It's ok to be condescending. Just own it. Don't pretend all of a sudden you're not that guy when that's exactly what you are. McDonald's or not.

There is nothing wrong with FIFA could it be improved absolutely but as a reaction of footy and especially with its focus on premier league and English leagues for casual gamers and gamers who love footy it’s more than good enough for sessions with mates or living the dream taking your team to league/cup glory. Dunno why people take it so seriously.

@Stocksy@sixrings Agreed. I noticed the thumbs down and honestly don't have a clue why.

Whoever it was, clearly has some kind of issue with someone enjoying playing a particular game.

I disagree with there being 'nothing wrong with FIFA'; FUT, in my opinion, is pretty egregious, and the full priced "roster update" on Switch FIFA 20 was in pretty poor taste (I actually paid about £20 for Switch FIFA 20 physical shortly after release, which would have been a reasonable price for a FIFA 19 roster update IMO).

As a game of football though, it's enjoyable and I've put somewhere around 250 hours into it so far this season.

@sixrings There is too much vitriol between the lines in your response to address it in full as it seems you have an issue with something (or someone?) that is beyond the context of what I have written here. I suggest coming to terms with whoever "that guy" is rather than debating people you don't know over the nuanced value of EA sports titles in the comment section of a NintendoLife article.

As with your previous comment, you are presuming there is a correlation between separate data sets where there is none. Reception does not consistently factor in to a game's success; there are incredibly bad games that have sold well, and vice versa. Additionally, I see no reason not to have compared the act of repeatedly purchasing EA sports titles to the behavior of twelve year-olds — the average EA sports game player will tell you they simply want to have fun with these titles, and there is nothing wrong with that. It's fair to state however that most activities twelve year-olds engage in are probably for fun. You cannot expect a product made to appeal to a majority of players to not have an incredibly low entry standard. Once again, observing that fact is not evident of this imagined "complex" you are ascribing to me because you don't like what I've written nor how I worded it. You are certainly free to find my writing condescending if you choose.

@Majora101 "I see no reason not to have compared the act of repeatedly purchasing EA sports titles to the behavior of twelve year-olds — the average EA sports game player will tell you they simply want to have fun with these titles, and there is nothing wrong with that. It's fair to state however that most activities twelve year-olds engage in are probably for fun"

It's fair to state that most activities anyone, of any age group, choose to engage in are probably for fun. I don't think it's exclusive to people under the age of thirteen.

@ObsidianEleven This is entirely true, though your average twelve year-old likely spends a little more time pleasure-seeking than their adult counterparts and is somewhat less likely to have had the time to develop a taste for products that don't feature the EA logo on the cover. That said, I fail to see why it's wrong to simply observe that fact. It is my right to comment on the topic in the manner I find most appropriate, just as it is his to repeatedly liken those who also exercise that right to hypocritical arrogant stuck-ups based on a flimsy argument comprised exclusively of incorrect assumptions expressed through bombastic and awkwardly-uncapitalised sentences. I also fail to see why a best-selling games of the decade list comprised almost exclusively of the exact same game is somehow a defensible fact-of-life unworthy of appropriately pointed criticism. As "condescending" as my writing and choice of analogy may read to you and @sixrings, I am not criticising you or others for liking EA sports games when I compare the act to the interests of children — I play Pokemon and Legend Of Zelda regularly, there is nothing wrong with individually liking FIFA, Madden, and the like. I am criticising the unfortunate fact that these games make up a vast majority of what gaming consumers of the world are playing and spending money on, and more specifically the negative impact that support has on the wider video game industry.

All the "road mans" and the "estate chavs" aged between 16 and 23 all have PS4's with about 3 or 4 games and all of them are CoD games and Fifa that they play for 1 or 2 weeks when it comes out then they go back to doing other stuff like trying to make music or on a darker side, sell drugs/do them/drink/loiter/go on nights out - i know we may claim otherwise but i still see more youngsters outside, especially when their in late teens and those hormones are in overdrive.

Those people far out number genuine gamers in my country, most grow out of that stuff in their mid 20s but they are never really full time gamers.

Out of all the friends i have known since growing up till now (i am 35)... 5 of us are real gamers and maybe 3 or 4 more have a PS4 or Xbox but they don't play much - i have 20+ friends that i see on a semi regular basis, obviously not all know each other (like we're in some big gang lol), these are people connected to me, and not all too each other.

Basically of all the people i know within my age group less than 50% own a gaming console and of that number only 50% are considered real gamers (buy games other than Fifa and CoD and come online to discuss games)...

This is also another factor but this is a broader one - most kids in the UK actually tend to stop gaming after 25, both my brothers have too as well as all my extended family, none play games anymore. I am the only one left in my entire family that now plays games. My closest brother stopped about a year back due to time constraints but he may pick it back up. But that might give you an idea of what i mean. - back in the ps2/GC days and most of the xbox 360/Ps3 days all my cousins and both my brothers played games regularly.

10 years later and i am the only one... 10 years is the time most of us passed 25 with only my little cousin whose 24 now.

Theres 13 of us in total.... and this isn't just my family, my friends too and im certain many other UK gamers have seen the same.

well I dunno. I don't like classifying gamers as if there's some sort of class system. If you like cod and FIFA then you're still a gamer to me. I'm not superior simply because I try out different types of games. And to be honest although I play all the Zeldas, Mario's, metroids, other Nintendo games some of my best times were playing both FIFA and cod.

@Razer I mean they bought a ps4. They didn't have to. They have an intention to play games. Once we get into true gamer conversations are we going to start listing our credentials. Well I can finish super Mario in less than 6 minutes. I have beaten Zelda 2 the adventures of link on the Og nes without save states. I have some arcade cabinets in my basement. I have a lan party room. I go to fan expo just to play games before they're released to the public. I have Mario wall decals in my house. Owned every Nintendo console minus a virtua boy, a ps1,ps3, xb,360,one, dreamcast. Sadly I made it to Tokyo but not Kyoto in my travels. See if just sound like a weirdo when I list my gaming qualifications which is why I'd prefer not to list them nor debate if others are "real" gamers.

@sixrings I play modern warfare at the moment and while I don't mind FIFA and prefer PES, for me it says more about the lack of openness of the UK market. If FIFA and CoD didn't exist, I'm not sure video games would be as popular in the UK. The sadness is in the amount of people missing out on Zelda, Mario, Pokémon, Smash Bros etc. as well as non-Nintendo games maybe like Fallout 4 and Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order. I can understand how easy it is to buy and whack in FIFA or CoD and play it all year long, but it's worrying for the UK market.

Yearly roster updates made sense in a pre-internet (on mainstream consoles) world,. But now in a world where plenty of games get continual support for years, the business model doesn't really make sense anymore other than from a short term one.

Ah well, as long as sports fans keep buying nothing will change and 2k and EA will be able to repackage their existing sports games with a new year on the box for years to come.

@Razer I get what you mean, I probably didn't explain properly. Basically from a developer perspective it's harder to get a game that isn't cod or FIFA in front of such a huge portion of console owners because they are happy with those two games and won't even consider anything else. Generally of course.

I find this pretty sad really. There are sooo many awesome original games out there, with such creativity and imagination put into them, yet most people just play an inferior digital recreation of something they can do in real life anyway. I'd much rather play the latest Mario platformer (maybe even Super Mario Maker, where I can endlessly create my own Mario levels) or Breath of the Wild or God of War or Minecraft or Fortnite or whatever, but Fifa and the like is what all the casuals play, and I see this at my work in youth clubs too, so I'm not really surprised.

@sixrings so by that same analogy, someone who goes to a club once a year to get their groove on must be a pro dancer?

Can you see how that doesn't work?

If those kids played CoD or Fifa every single day, for about 30+ hours per week then you can call them gamers.

They play 30 hours a year... you cannot call them gamers. Stop fooling yourself.

They spend less than one days wage on games - you cannot call them gamers. Stop fooling yourself.

Just like i can't call myself a dancer just because i go to a club once a year and get my groove on... if i tried to call myself a dancer, what do you think someone who spends 30 hours a week dancing, would say? Do you think he/she would accept my claim?

@Razer well when I played cod exclusively during the 360 years I easily played 30 hours a week. It's embarrassing how much time I sunk into black ops and modern warfare 2. The maps are ingrained in my memory I'll probably be able to draw the maps 40 years from now when I have dementia and can no longer remember who my wife is.